Olympics - Beijing 2022 - Day 15

Day 15 - February 18, 2022

Starting to wrap up the Olympics, so not a lot of events, but some very important ones.

In figure skating, the pairs short program was contested.  China's Sui Wenjing and Han Cong set a phenomenally high short program score, to lend the pairs into the final program.  

In men's hockey, the Russian Olympic Committee defeated Sweden, 2-1 in 8 shootout shots, to qualify for the finals.  They will play against Finland, which defeated Slovakia 2-0.

The women's 2-man bobsled started with its first two runs, with Germany dominated.  Germany is in the first 2 positions, with the US in third and firth, and Canada fourth and Germany 6th.   Interestingly, in the monobob all sleds have to be provided by the same company, so we really find out who the best driver is.  In the two and four-man bobsleds, the countries can supply their own sleighs, so the engineering behind the sleighs are very important.  So, basically, Germany's engineers are uparalleled at this point.

In curling, the women's semi-finals were held, and Japan beat Switzerland 8-6, and Great Britain defeated Sweden 12-11.  In the 9th end Great Britain scored 4 points to take an 11-8 lead on Sweden.  But in the 10th end, Sweden scored 3 to make in 11, and send it to extra ends.  Great Britain scored 1 in the 11th end to qualify for the finals.  There is no doubt that these are the two best women's teams!

In the men's ski-cross, the overwhelming favorite Ryan Regez of Switzerland won gold, joined on the podium by his teammate Alex Fiva, who won silver.  The Russian Olympic Committee's Sergey Ridzik won bronze.

In the biathlon, the men's 15km mass start was completed, with Norway's Johannes Thingnes Boe won gold, followed by Sweden's Martin Ponsilouma (silver) and Norway's Vetjle Sjaastad Christiansen (bronze).  This was Johannes Thingnes Boe's 4th gold (and 5th medal) of these Olympics.  France's Quintin Fillon-Maillet finished fourth, unable to add to his 5 medals in these Olympics (2 golds and 3 silvers).  

Athlete of the Day:  Johannes Thinges Boe, Norway, Biathlon

He won gold in the 15km mass start, his 4th gold of these games, and 5th overall medal.

Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day: Haralds Silovs, Latvia, Speedskating

Silovs donated his skates to American Casey Dawson who lost his skates due to lost luggage on his travels to Beijing.  Dawson had Covid, but the tests he took prior to the Olympics were disqualified as the laboratory in which he took the tests was disqualified as an appropriate lab.  By the time he had a negative test that was acceptable to the games, he rushed to Beijing, and some of his equipment was lost.  Silovs loaned Dawson his skates for the 1500 meters speedskating race.  Silovs finished 24th, and Dawson finished 28th, but the sportsmanship was remarkable.\

Olympic Term of the Day: Peel - Curling - A stone delivered with heavy take-out weight, but curls away from the takeout into another area, possibly into the scoring zone.

Olympic Events Watched: Biathlons, Bobsled, Curling, Figure Skating, Hockey, Ski-Cross, Speed Skating

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer(s):  Nick Baungartner, Nathan Chen, Kaillie Humphries, Erin Jackson, Lindsey Jacobellis, Chloe Kim, ELANA MEYERS-TAYLOR 

Olympics - Beijing 2022 - Day 12

Day 12 - February 15, 2022

For some, Valentine's Day can be disappointing.  For these Olympics, that day occurred on February 15 - the day after Valentine's Day.

On the ice, the U.S. men - who had secured the #1 overall seed for the quarterfinals - lost to Slovakia in a shootout.  The US took a 1-0 lead into the last 1:30 of the game, when Slovakia pulled goalie Patrik Rybar.  With the extra man, Slovakia tied up the game with 45 seconds remaining.  Both teams failed to score in overtime, sending the game to a shootout.  Slovakia scored on their 5th opportunity, and US captain Andy Miele's shot was saved by Rybar, advancing Slovakia to the semi-finals 1-0 in the shootout.

Even more disappointing is not only did Kamila Valieva participate in the women's short program, she finished in first place heading into the long program.  No matter what happens in women's figure skating - usually the most important single event in the Winter Olympics - the story is Valieva.

The Freestyle skiing men's aerials preliminaries took place, with all 3 Americans advancing to the 12 person semi-finals.  They will each make 2 runs until the finals are whittled down to the top 6, who will each make one run for the medals!

Germany did make history in the 2-man bobsled, sweeping all three medals.  Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis defended their 2018 gold medal from Pyeongchang by again winning gold.  Johannes Lochner and Florian Bauer finished second for silver, and Christopher Hafer and Matthias Sommer won bronze.

In the men's Nordic Combined Large Hill/10km, Norway won gold and silver, with Joergen Braabak won gold ahead of compatriot Jens Luraas Oftebro and Japan's Watabe Akito, who won silver.

Staying on skis, the 4 x 7.5 km relay finished up the men's biathlon competition, which had a lot of noteworthy performance.  Norway - whose team consisted of Sturla Homl Laegreid, Tarjei Boe, Johannes Thingnes Boe, and anchor Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen - won gold in the most important biathlon race in these games, defeating France (silver) and Russian Olympic Committee (bronze).  The Boe brothers each won their 4th medal at these games.  Definitely not to be outdone, France's Quintin Fillon-Maillet won his 5th medal in Beijing with France's second place performance.

Athletes of the Day:  Quintin Fillon-Maillet, France, Biathlon and Patrik Rybar, Slovakia, Biathlon

Rybar gave up one goal against the United States in the hockey quarterfinals, and none in overtime and in the shootout, as Slovakia advances to the semi-finals.  Fillon-Maillet won hist 5th medal of these games!!!

Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day - Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor, United States, Bobsled

The two American teammates lobbied the IOC and the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation to add monobob to the Olympics.  Monobob is competed internationally on the bobsled circuit, but was not previously competed in the games.  Humphries - who competed for Canada at the time - and Meyers Taylor were rivals, but both wanted to see additional chances for women to compete at the Olympics.  Although the decision to add monobob was made years ago, the two rivals, and now teammates, benefited from their own lobbying winning gold and silver, and giving women an additional Olympic event in which to compete.

Olympic Term of the Day: Nordic Combined - Nordic combined is an event that has been held since the first Winter Olympics in 1924 in Chamonix, France.  It combines Cross-Country Skiing with ski jumping.  In the Olympics, the Nordic Combined is competed under the Gundersen method, where the ski jumping results determine the start times of the athletes in the ski jumping (e.g. the highest-scoring ski-jumper starts first in the cross-country portion, with the remaining athletes starting at times determined by their ski jumping scores.

Olympic Events Watched: Biathlon, Bobsled, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Hockey, Nordic Combined

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer(s):  Nick Baungartner, Nathan Chen, Kaillie Humphries, Erin Jackson, Lindsey Jacobellis, Chloe Kim, Hilary Knight, Elana Meyers Taylor

Olympics - Beijing 2022 - Day 11

 Day 11 - February 14, 2022

Happy Valentine's Day, and the most important Valentine for the Olympic athletes is a medal!

In hockey, we the viewers all get what we want - a Canada/US Final!!!  The Olympic hockey gods are definitely good!!!

In worse news, the Kamila Valieva positive drug test situation took an interesting turn.  Sha'Carri Richardson, the U.S. Sprinter who tested positive for THC at the US trials, went public with the question as to why Valieva - who tested positive for a performance enhancer at the ROC's Olympic trials - still gets to compete when Richardson could not - and answers the question by stating it must be because Vaileva is white.  And, Richardson isn't wrong.  Stay tuned as Valieva competes tomorrow.

Something incredible interesting is brewing in Bobsled, as the 2-man competition completed their first two runs, with German squads in first, second, and fourth, with the fourth-place sled only .05 seconds behind the Russian Olympic Committee sled.  This could be the only time one country has swept the podium in bobled.

The men's ski jumping team competition (large hill) took place, with Austria winning gold over Slovenia (silver) and Germany (bronze).

In the X-Games competitions, the women's freestyle skiing aerials and slopestyle took place.  In the aerials, the host China wins gold behind Xu Mengtao, followed by Hanna Huskova of Belarus (silver) and American Megan Nick (bronze).

 

In slopestyle, Eileen Gu of China, the gold medalist in the half-pipe, won her second medal by coming in second in slopestyle, beat only by a tremendous run by Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland who takes gold.  Kelly Sidaru of Estonia comes in third.  The Russian Olympic Committee is protesting what it believes was low scoring for fourth place Anastasia Tatalina.

After some weather delays, the women's downhill was completed, and Switzerland's Corinne Suter won gold in an incredibly fast run.  She was joined on the podium by two Italians, Sofia Goggia (silver) and Nadia Delago (bronze).

In speedskating, the team pursuit competition finished with Norway defeating the Russian Olympic Committee for gold in the final.  The United States won the third-place match over the Netherlands to take home bronze.  The U.S. team, made up of Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman, and Joey Mantia - Ethan Cepuran skated in the semi-finals) kept Sven Kramer from winning his 10th all-time Olympic medal.

Athlete of the Day:  Sofia Goggia, Italy, Alpine Skiiing

Goggia won the silver medal in the women's downhill, JUST THREE WEEKS AFTER A CRASH LEFT HER WITH A DAMAGED ACL!!!  She is in pain, and likely needs surgery, but she was not missing the Olympics.

Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day - Everyone in the Skating world not related to Russia, Every Country Except Russia, Figure Skating

Virtually everyone in the world of figure skating, form athletes, to former athletes, to coaches, to administrators, to broadcasters, are unanimous in condemning the fact that Kamila Valieva is still performing in these Olympics.  Although, the IOC has stated that no medals will be awarded should Valieva finish first, second, or third, until its investigation is complete and all legal challenges are finished.

Olympic Term of the Day: Hammer - In curling, the team with the last stone in any given end of play holds "the hammer."  The 16th delivered, or last stone, curled in any given end.

Olympic Events Watched: Alpine Skiing, Curling, Bobsled, Freestyle Skiing, Hockey, Ski Jumping

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer(s):  Nick Baungartner, Nathan Chen, Kaillie Humphries, Erin Jackson, Lindsey Jacobellis, Chloe Kim, Hilary Knight, Elana Meyers Taylor